Vison of Life...It speaks about my views towards what's happening around us, though many of the things represents Pune, a becoming Metro in Maharashtra,India yet most of us live in similar city life. In city day to day life all we face is problems around us; from traffic to water to slums to power supply & many more, but who has solutions? That's why the name
Vison of Life!
Sanjay Deshpande

Sunday, May 25, 2014

"Warrior of Hope", Letter To Mr Narendra Modi!!

“It is better to lead
from behind & put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory.
You take the front line when there is danger. That’s the way people will
appreciate you as a good leader… Nelson Mandela.”

To Hon Modi Sir,

Rather
I was confused what term I should use to write you, & better shall call you
as Narendrada as that gives more comfort & familiar feel. I am Sanjay
Deshpande, a civil engineer/builder from Pune, Maharashtra; I don’t know whether
my words through this letter will be ever reach to you or not, as never in my
life I have tried to write to even a elected member of my town, leave apart
Prime Minister of India! But then when you feel to write someone it’s not mere
words but the feelings you are expressing. Not that I haven’t come across good
leaders/politicians in the society but never felt like writing to them is a
fact. As the great leader has said in the above quote, I think you have lived
the later part i.e. putting yourself at front when the danger was there &
showed how a leader should take on the danger! The earlier part of the quote is
yet to become true as I am sure you also know the real danger (this may be
wrong word) yet it’s in form of the delivering lies ahead so you need to be in
front for a while.

Narendrada I wonder from your way of approaching masses that is it
mere coincidence that a person with same name has long back won the masses of
even western world with just one sentence “My brothers & sisters” &
kept on teaching this country to know its own strength! I am referring to
none other than Swami Vivekananda, who lived a short life but a life worth
following! He also tried to make common man understand value of his life & utilize
it for a cause & what you were telling to us through your campaign wasn’t
any different is what I feel. If at all difference was then you were asking us
to do via channel of democracy but in actual it’s for us only. To me we as a
democracy were very immature till you came along & appealed us to wake up
or grow up is the proper word. As when most of the
time every educated & later even non educated man was thinking, “kya farak
padata hai yar apne ek votese”, about the elections; as the way it’s
being fought & won.It’s you who made
us to understand our power. I am voting since last twenty years now & for
the first time in my life I saw queue of people in one of the best locality in
Pune where I reside, when the usual scene was supposed to be a holiday type
mahowl on the D day! That day & that time I started respecting you more as
this wasn’t a one day effect or chamatakar, but this was outcome of a man who
not single handed but by using thousand hands have made this happen. And it has been
replicated in every town & city of this so called secular country which in
actual lives non secularism at every level of society, may it be election or
service or even a thing as personal as marriage.

We
are secular conveniently till now, using our caste or religion only for our
benefit but it’s this time we voted going beyond that & realizing the real
caste or religion is development of the entire nation & society. Narendrada, do
you realize what you have ignited by your campaign? It’s not voters’ confidence
or just faith in what you say, it’s the hope you ignited which was on the verge
of dying in every common man’s mind of this country. And when I say
common here it includes a billionaire business man living in his empire as well
a rikshawala on street! As the country which used to live on hope since our ancient
times & believed in thirty three crore Gods or Allah or Jesus & think
that their god can take them out from any bad situation, has lost their hopes about
the state of their country! “Is deshka
kuch nahi ho sakata ab” was the general feel& I myself too wasn’t exception.

You must have come across a novel
by Ian Rand,“Atlas Shrugged’ & in that novel same situation has been shown
what we feel every day. There a question is asked by everyone to everyone “Who
is Joan Galt?” means God knows, to describe the frustration & helplessness
about the situation around. The scene was those who are working hard &
really want to do something good for the society by their work are being sucked
by those who are just idealistic & in hand with rulers without any policy.

What
you did was something my generation has forgotten to believe & that is why we
have stopped hoping for miracle. And we forget that miracle is within us &
we can make things happen. Though there wasn’t any common pool or communication
group to bring along the change which each of us wanted & you without even
knowing to yourself has become that group like on whats-ap or fb & people
shared the change through you! When Internet was in making no one knew what it
will change in the society, well it just didn’t changed society but it changed
the concepts of communication & what is a society without communication?
Your campaign also was worth studying for any management school & sure it
will be part of many B Schools syllabus hereafter & even of war colleges
also. As by me it indeed was a war, where you were to fight seen as well unseen
enemies. It said in politics there are no permanent enemies; well then the coin
has other side too. Means you don’t have any permanent friend also in the
politics.

I am fan of good movies & good book, in famous Harry Potter
series, the Hogwarts School’s principal Dumbledore once says, “It requires courage to stand up against the enemies but it
require far more than just courage to stand up against your friends” &
I think who better than you could describe this dialogue!

Why
I said your war story because it’s like fighting everybody at same time on
different fronts, first with opposition parties then with the so called friends
within the parties & lastly fight with the dead hopes of entire nation’s
common man! And that too in time span of less than eight months with only asset
of being a successful Chief Minister of a state out of thirty two states of
this country! Agreed you are the only Chief Minister (to my knowledge) who
eventually has become the Prime Minister of the country but then there were
other successful Chief Ministers too in this country. So its definitely is your
credit as well subject of study how you could achieve which no one could even dream!
At the same time this absolute win is a big responsibility to treat you
opponents with dignity too; as we have witnessed the history, how even a defeated King
Puru has been treated by anonther king i.e. Sikandar like a king only.

Unfortunately
in our country we are specialized in analyzing failures but rarely study
success as we are too ignorant about it or emotional fool is proper word. But I
am sure when you said you will show your report card in 2019, then you mean
what you said & for that success analysis is a must.

Now
as first part of the war has been won, the more difficult part starts as once
the hopes of a nation are relived, it’s like awakening a sleeping giant as it
will start demanding & a country with hundreds of languages, cultures ,
castes, religions its mammoth job. Yet what I feel is when it comes to expectation
from life the 120 crore population country has same definition about good life.
That way we
the Indians have been successful in western countries only because of our fewer
expectations about life. “Do wakt ki roti, soneke liye sarpe khudka chhappar
aur ho sake to ekhad gaddi“ i.e. an assured meal, own home & a car is like
bonus; bass, that’s our very basic definition of good life & we are ready
to slog for it;andthe best part
is no one wants these basic need free! Whatever threat people may
show about riots & communal, all these have been emerged from the
frustrations of this very basic need hasn’t been fulfilled & then we have
leaders who are expert in keeping us fighting for the reasons which are no way
related to the cause but mainly to distract people from their failure of not
doing the duty. The common man in this country hasn’t yet forgotten the humanity
as its still here in this country a glass of water is asked to any visitor
without knowing his origin, such is our gesture. So when you appealed for
development, it’s this common man who understood the difference &
importance of your campaign & what a way he has responded!! In a way it’s a
sign of maturity of the democratic India also.

Development
of a City or a Country isn’t just high GDP or Airports or IT Parks or Big
Malls, but it’s the comfort level in the mindset of common man for his every
day survival.
We do need education, good health facilities & we are ready to pay for all
the services. Challenge is to make it available at affordable cost & in
reality. Years after years we have been
shown rosy picture of a “Sujalam Sufalam Bharat” & everyone was watching
who is in actual getting “Sujalam Sufalam!”. I am sure you know or have
understood all this, just wanted to confirm as feedback from a commoner’s eye.
Please do try to share this view & understanding of yours to every
karyakarta; senior or junior as hereafter you will need it. As when every individual soldier of a kingdom speaks same
words & has same morals that of the King, only those Kings have succeeded
is the lesson from history!

Lastly now with the
position you are in, there will be thousands who will be expecting something
from you but I will wish that you ask me what I can give you in your mission of
achieving “Achhe Din”, as that’s the best way I can pay my tribute to the
“Warrior of Hope” for this country!!